The thermal oxidation of silicon in a dry, oxygen ambient is a vital element in the manufacture of integrated circuits. Thermal oxides are used routinely as gate dielectric layers for field-effect transistors. As device dimensions are scaled down to increase circuit density, increasingly lower voltages are necessary to prevent channel punch-through and reduce the parasitic transistor effect between adjacent devices. With lower voltages, thinner gate dielectric layers are required. For example, the current of 4-megabit dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) typically uses gate oxide layers having a thickness within a range of 200 to 250 Å for both memory array and peripheral transistors. For 16-megabit DRAMs, this figure is expected to fall to 150 to 200 Å; for 64-megabit and 256-megabit DRAMs, the thickness is expected to fall still further. For electrically-programmable memories such as electrically-erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs) and flash memories, even thinner gate oxide layers are required to facilitate Fowler-Nordheim tunneling (universally used as the erase mechanism and often as the write mechanism). For the current generation of 4-megabit flash memories, 110 Å-thick gate oxide layers are the norm. For future generations of more dense flash memories, gate oxide layers are expected to drop to the 80 to 90 Å range.
As gate oxide layers become thinner, it becomes increasingly important that such layers be defect free in order to eliminate leakage. Defects in the gate oxide layer have several sources. One major source of defects is the imperfections in the single-crystal bulk silicon from which starting wafers are manufactured. Such imperfections in the 10 single-crystal silicon lattice generally result from impurities, which may include metal atoms. Thermal growth of an oxide layer on top of bulk silicon will result in “pin holes” in the dielectric at the defect sites. Another major source of defects is the low quality of the native silicon dioxide which forms at room temperature on exposure to the atmosphere. Prior processes for forming a gate dielectric layer typically begin with a cleaning step which normally consists of a short-time dip in a hydrofluoric acid bath. Following the cleaning step, the wafers are generally exposed to the atmosphere, at which time a 3 to 7 Å-thick layer of native oxide forms on the surface of exposed bare silicon. The defects in native silicon dioxide are the result of the low temperature of formation (which results in oxides of uneven stoichiometry) and the uncontrolled content of the atmosphere (which results in trace amounts of compounds other than silicon dioxide).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,054 to Inoue describes a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device involving a capacitor, the primary object being to improve the method of mass-manufacturing chips containing a larger-capacitance capacitor. It does teach selectively growing a silicon layer on the substrate surface by an epitaxial growth method and then forming a gate oxide film by thermal oxidation. However, the objective of Inoue is to create a capacitor, the capacitance being controlled by the pattern and depth of etching into the insulation layer. Inoue's focus is on the ability to repeatably produce the same pattern of depressions and does not include any mention of a controlled manufacturing environment or an attempt to maximize the quality of the gate oxide layer. Inoue teaches improving capacitor performance and Inoue does not consider the quality of the substrate surface prior to the epitaxial growth step.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,681 to Godbey teaches removal of silicon oxide present on the active area after the wafer is placed in the growth chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,245 to Price teaches an apparatus for plasma enhanced thermal treating of silicon-bearing materials. Price does not described increasing the effectiveness of fabrication steps through plasma enhancement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,221 to Atherton teaches a process for modelling and controlling production integrated processing equipment (PIPE), although in the Background of the Invention section it makes passing reference to PIPEs being able to minimize human involvement and operate in a controlled environment, although “controlled environment” is not defined in Atherton.
What is lacking in the art is an improved method of forming silicon dioxide for use as gate dielectric layers which are less prone to leakage than those which are conventionally grown.